Our Rabbis and Cantor invite you to come and experience the spirituality, community, learning, and joy that flourish in our congregation!
Rabbi Nathan Kamesar
Rabbi Nathan S. Kamesar (he/him) is honored to serve as the Rabbi for the Society Hill Synagogue community, having served with the community since 2014, first as Rabbinic Intern, then Associate Rabbi, now as Senior Rabbi. Rabbi Kamesar was ordained, and received an M.A. in Hebrew Letters, at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in June 2018. While in rabbinical school, Nathan served as President of the Reconstructionist Student Association and was honored with the Tikkun Olam Award for service to the college community. He also earned an M.S. degree in Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 and was selected by his classmates to be the graduation speaker for that program.
Rabbi Kamesar loves teaching and has taught courses at Society Hill Synagogue on a wide range of subjects including Jewish Perspectives on Theodicy: Why Bad Things Happen To Good People and Raising the Sparks: Humanity’s Role in Healing a Broken Cosmos.
Rabbi Kamesar serves as Rabbinic Liaison and is a member of the Steering Committee of Center City Kehillah, a network of communities representing the diversity of Jewish life in urban Philadelphia, and is a member of the Policy Board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia. He also recently completed a term of service as Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Representative to the RRC Admissions Committee.
Before rabbinical school, Rabbi Kamesar was an attorney at the law firm, Skadden Arps. He earned his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2010. Prior to law school, Nathan served two years with AmeriCorps*VISTA in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Rabbi Kamesar is a proud Oregon Duck having graduated magna cum laude from the University of Oregon in 2004 with a degree in Economics. He and his wife Caroline both grew up in the Philadelphia area and reside in Center City with their daughters, Lila and Nina. He loves reading, basketball, music, tv, and life.
You can Click Here to read some of Rabbi Kamesar’s Divrei Torah (sermons).
Contact Rabbi Kamesar
Hazzan Jessi Roemer
Prior to joining our congregation as Cantor, Hazzan Jessi had led engaging and interactive children’s and family services at Society Hill Synagogue for many years. Her soulful voice and musical talents have enhanced the spirituality of our services. She has extensive experience in Jewish music education and has performed, taught workshops, and led prayer services throughout the United States and in Israel; her original compositions have been featured in many of these settings.
Hazzan Jessi grew up in the Washington, D.C., area, surrounded by her mother’s Yiddish, Hebrew, and American folk music; cantorial melodies; and the bluegrass-klezmer music of the Fabrangen Fiddlers. Hazzan Jessi’s musical style reflects her roots, studies, and travels – which include having spent the 1990s living in Jerusalem. She served as a cantorial soloist at Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir in Rittenhouse Square and as a prayer leader at Congregation Kol Tzedek in West Philadelphia. Hazzan Jessi received her ordination from the ALEPH Cantorial Program in January 2017.
Hazzan Jessi is also well known in the Philadelphia area as the director of Ezuz, an ensemble of multi-talented musicians who play Jewish world music featuring lyrics in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Arabic, and Ladino.
Contact Hazzan Roemer
Rabbi Avi Winokur, Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Winokur (he/him) began his career as an attorney and earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. After 8 years in practice in California, he decided to fulfill his dream of becoming a rabbi.
A graduate and current Board member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Ordination, 1991), and a member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Rabbi Winokur served as Rabbi at Society Hill Synagogue from 2001 to 2020. Prior to joining our synagogue family, Avi was the Senior Rabbi at West End Synagogue in New York (1992–2001) and Rabbi at Congregation Shirei Shalom in Monroe, Connecticut (1990–1992). He also served as the Director of the Community Relations Committee at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven (1991–1992).
With an energetic and engaging style, Rabbi Winokur has taught classes in California at Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, the Orange County Adult Education Series, and the University Synagogue in Irvine. He was also invited to be a Scholar in Residence at the Whittier California Havurah. Avi has also taught in New York City at the 92nd Street Y and at the JCC in Manhattan, and in Philadelphia, at the Center City Kehillah’s Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.